Method for storing tomographic volume data, and tomography system

Abstract

A method for storing tomographic volume data includes segmenting the tomographic volume data into individual slice images, arranging the individual slice images as a sequence of video frames, and compressing and/or decompressing the tomographic volume data by a video compression and/or decompression method). A tomography system includes a compression device configured to compress tomographic volume data by a video compression and/or decompression method, and/or a decompression device configured to decompress the tomographic volume data by the video compression and/or decompression method, the tomographic volume data being segmented into individual slice images, and the individual slice images being arranged as a sequence of video frames. A computer program product includes, and a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium is encoded with instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to carry out the method for storing the tomographic volume data.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for storing tomographic volume data, the method comprising:
 segmenting the tomographic volume data into individual slice images;   arranging the individual slice images as a sequence of video frames; and   compressing and/or decompressing the tomographic volume data by a video compression and/or decompression method.   
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the video compression and/or decompression method comprises inter-frame coding. 
     
     
         3 . The method as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the video compression and/or decompression method is a H.264/MPEG-4 AVC method or a H.265/MPEG-H Part 2 method. 
     
     
         4 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 performing noise cancellation before and/or during the compressing of the tomographic volume data.   
     
     
         5 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 defining a container format for the tomographic volume data, wherein the container format includes a video file including the tomographic volume data, at least one projection direction information item, a dimension information item, an origin information item, and/or a size of an overall volume in voxels of the tomographic volume data.   
     
     
         6 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 selecting configuration parameters of the video compression and/or decompression method based on an image quality of the individual slice images, a resolution of the tomographic volume data, a compression time, a resultant file size, and/or a decompression time.   
     
     
         7 . The method as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein the container format comprises video files respectively assigned for at least two projection directions of the tomographic volume data. 
     
     
         8 . The method as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the container format comprises video files respectively assigned for at least two projection directions of the tomographic volume data. 
     
     
         9 . A tomography system, comprising:
 a compression device configured to compress tomographic volume data by a video compression and/or decompression method; and/or   a decompression device configured to decompress the tomographic volume data by the video compression and/or decompression method;   the tomographic volume data being segmented into individual slice images; and   the individual slice images being arranged as a sequence of video frames.   
     
     
         10 . The tomography system as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the tomography system is a computed tomography apparatus. 
     
     
         11 . A computer program product comprising instructions that when executed by at least one of a computer, a processor, a control module, or a programmable hardware component cause the at least one of the computer, the processor, the control module, or the programmable hardware component to carry out the steps of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         12 . A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium encoded with instructions that when executed by at least one of a computer, a processor, a control module, or a programmable hardware component cause the at least one of the computer, the processor, the control module, or the programmable hardware component to carry out the steps of  claim 1 .